Trivia / Otto Messmer

• Creator Backlash: He later openly regretted choosing director Burt Gillett to make the Van Beuren Felix the Cat shorts.
• Follow the Leader: When Messmer's creation made a splash in the 1920s, just about everybody was trying to ape the Felix cartoons and his art style. This even lasted till the early 1930s, before Disney began truly establishing its influence in the industry.
• Reclusive Artist: To a degree. In real life, Messmer was a very modest man who preferred to work on his animation and comics solo and without complication—alledgedly, he even turned down an offer to work for Disney so that he could continue working alone in peace (although he did agree to contribute some new animation of Felix to the Walt Disney Presents episode The Story of the Animated Drawing). Thankfully, he did grant interviews and got recognition as the creator of Felix and a pioneer of animation by the end of his life.